


Garden Party

by vextant



Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2018 Fills [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Rooftop/Indoor Gardening for Novices, They just talk, about plants, that's the whole fic, vex also sneaks her own ofc in there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 09:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16741678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vextant/pseuds/vextant
Summary: Steve finds Bruce's secret project.—A fill for the prompt "Rooftop/Indoor Gardening for Novices" for the Happy Steve Bingo 2018.





	Garden Party

**Author's Note:**

> layersofsilence has a wonderful, hilarious fill from the same prompt that you can find [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16741816)! We thought it was super interesting how different our fills turned out from the same prompt.

The thing about having such a large team in such a large multi-building complex is that no one is ever easy to find. Tony’s been half-joking for years about having them all microchipped — Steve doesn’t have the heart to tell them that the SSR already tried that, and that it got really gross. He heals too fast, so his body  _ always _ rejects the chip as foreign and pushes it back out, right through his skin. Not a fun time. It took four tries for Howard to give up and just put the tracker in the suit instead.  

Long story short, Steve can’t seem to find Bruce in this whole damn Complex. Not that he’s not grateful for the Complex, because he is. It’s been great having a couple square miles to just the team and their support team — and their support team is indispensable — but it means that tracking somebody down could take thirty seconds, or it could take twenty minutes. Right now, Steve’s search is pushing half an hour. 

It isn’t even that urgent. He just wants Bruce’s opinion. The thing is, though, he wants it  _ away _ from Tony, who Steve knows is off-grounds today. Bruce tends to defer and fold when Tony’s around — not because Bruce Banner is a weak man in any sense of the word, not because Tony’s inherently  _ bad _ , because he just  _ isn’t _ , but when it comes to personality Tony does tend to bulldoze people who’d rather think before they speak. So Steve would rather find Bruce  _ today _ . 

He’s not in the R&D building, when Steve looks. Kim, Bruce’s assistant on his research, says he’s taking a long lunch but that she doesn’t know where. Steve thanks her and tries to shake her off when she asks to take another “quick blood sample” — it’s urgent, sorry Kim, I’ve really got to go find Bruce, Avengers business, you know. She seems to understand.

On his way back to the glass walkway out of R&D, he spies an emergency door that’s propped open. Just barely. There’s not even a gap between the frame and the door itself — but actually, as Steve gets closer, he sees that there is. There’s a pad of post-it notes wedged in there, just enough so that the door doesn’t shut all the way and engage the automatic lock. 

Steve gets a look at the exit keypad. There’s no alarm going off, not even a silent one — as if anything designed for the Avengers would ever be stealthy, ever — so whoever left did scan out. He knows there’s a way to get it to show him, but he doesn’t know exactly how to get to that interface, so he deduces instead. Whoever left obviously wants to come back in through this door instead of going all the way back around through the main R&D entrance. They’re high level enough to swipe their way out of an emergency door.

Outside, there’s about 30 yards of open grass until the treeline. The edge of the woods kind of — Steve doesn’t really know how to describe it —  _ parts _ ? In a strange way. 

It looks a little like a path. 

Steve suddenly has a very strong suspicion that he knows exactly where Bruce went. He steps out the door, careful to replace the pad of post-its exactly as he found them. l

There isn’t so much a formal path as there is six-inch wide gap between the plants. It doesn't twist or backtrack, or attempt to mislead him — it's pretty much a straight shot through the woods. Still, Steve feels a little on edge, a little like he's somewhere that he probably shouldn't be.

Up ahead, there's a clearing. He can see a little — a little hut, maybe a cabin? — but there's a wood roof poking through the trees. He hears something scrape against dirt, like a small animal digging around in the brush. Steve tries to walk softer so as not to scare off whatever it is — he’s only looking for Bruce, he doesn’t need to give some poor rabbit the scare of its little life. 

He steps on a branch and it snaps clean in half, loud and sharp. He winces. The animal stops scuffling. 

“Hello?” says Bruce’s voice. “Somebody there?”

He doesn’t sound surprised — maybe a little taken off guard? After all, there are quite a few steps needed for someone to follow him all the way out here. 

Steve steps into the clearing. Bruce is kneeling on a ratty old towel, with gardeners’ gloves on his hands and a bucket of pulled weeds next to him. The way the sun is shining down makes the edges of his hair glow a little bit, like he’s about to photosynthesize with the best of them. The garden itself is larger than Steve would’ve expected — it looks more like a victory garden for a family of five than a hobbyist plot for just one man. It’s neatly divided, among what looks like vine-type plants, above-ground and below-ground vegetables, and herbs. He wonders exactly how long Bruce has been doing this. Steve’s the first man to admit that he himself doesn’t know much about plants, but this is  _ ridiculous _ — not in the outrageous way, but in the way that he’s known Bruce for years now and there’s never been any inkling whatsoever that the man’s had a green thumb the whole damn time. 

“Oh, hey Steve.” Bruce is trying to speed up his weeding, picking up the end of the towel and kind of awkwardly shuffling down the line of little leafy growths. To be honest, Steve’s not sure which ones are the ones Bruce actually wants to grow — to him, they all look like weeds. “If you’ll just give me a minute, I’m almost done.”

He doesn’t sound like a man that’s been intruded upon. To Steve, he almost sounds resigned, like his big secret — both the Hulk  _ and _ Bruce Banner have green thumbs, who knew — was going to come out eventually and he was just waiting for the day. Steve looks over the garden again, this time with the knowledge that this is something Bruce built up by himself, for himself, and suddenly feels ashamed that he’s just forced himself into Bruce’s space like this. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to — I was just looking for you. I didn’t mean to, ah,” Steve uselessly gestures around him, “You’re clearly very busy.”

“Not really.” Bruce sits up a little on his knees and starts to peel off his gloves. “Just trying to work through something. Sometimes it helps to have something to do with your hands while your head unravels the problem, you know?”

Steve nods. That, he understands. And then it clicks, “Kim, she said she didn’t know where you were. Was she—?”

“Covering for me, yeah. Honestly, I’m surprised you’re the first person she’s told. She’s a horrible liar.”

“If it helps, she didn’t tell me. She said you were on a long lunch.”

“Well, that’s technically true.” Bruce chuckles, low and warm. He gestures to a little plastic chair where there’s a metal water bottle sitting on an empty, folded paper bag. “So, if it wasn’t her, how’d you find your way out here? I’d like to, you know, update my security in the future.”

That gets a laugh out of Steve. There’s not even a fence around the garden. “I saw the post-it notes in the door.”

“Ah, that’ll do it.” The gardener nods, thinking. “I’m sure Tony’s built in a failsafe of some kind to unlock those doors from the outside, but I’m not an engineer, you know? And asking him for it is like inviting investigation. I like this place,” he gestures with both palms to the ground, “I like this place the way it is.”

“Well, your secret’s safe with me.” Steve smiles. 

“Thanks. You know anything about gardening?”

“Bruce, I grew up in the city and then went to war.”

“Well I’m trying not to assume, you know, we all have our secret talents.” Bruce gives him a little knowing smile. Steve appreciates that, knowing what he does, that he took the time to ask anyway. “I’ll even let you come back here from time to time if you’re willing to learn.”

“Oh, I’m allowed? Even after my—” Steve chuckles, nods to where he came from, “— my breaking and entering?”

“You’re going to have to earn your right somehow. We’re going to have to take turns sitting, though, I’ve only got the one chair.” They both laugh. There’s a couple birds nearby chirping loudly at each other.

Steve is amazed that it’s as a quiet as it is when they’re still so close to the Complex — hell, he can see the corner of the R&D building through the trees. It’s very calm here. He doesn’t know if he could handle it all the time — the calm and the quiet sometimes make him feel itchy, like something’s getting ready to happen but he doesn’t ever know  _ what _ — but once in a while he could really see himself enjoying the break. 

Besides, there’s something about  _ growing _ something that interests him. Watching something sprout and taking care of it and being able to enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of your own labors. He’s never had so much as a houseplant before. But he thinks he’d like to learn. 

“It’s a nice place you got here.” Steve says. “You need some help? With the weeds?”

Bruce grins. It’s a slow thing, spreading out like honey, but it takes over his whole face in a way Steve rarely sees. “Yeah. Yeah, lemme go get my other gloves.”

**Author's Note:**

> I realize now that this is not rooftop OR indoor farming, whoops. It's okay though, I have a lot of feelings about these two just relaxing and gardening together, I'm so pleased with this little green thumb friendship fantasy I've made for myself. Hopefully you enjoyed it too!
> 
> Either way, thanks for reading! If you're so inclined, [here](https://vextant.tumblr.com/post/180491225691/layersofsilences-and-i-got-the-same-prompt-for) is the tumblr post for easy liking and/or reblogging.


End file.
